Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Copper Creek Sprint Tri

Since Mooseman was my big race...I have been trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the summer. I had picked the Tex/Mex and Copper Creek to do as FUN races to round out June.

Typically in IA I try to race Hy-Vee but they changed the date to Labor Day and so I found Copper Creek was not that far from Ryans parents. After running the 5k on Wed and then hopping in the car for a short 16 hour jaunt with the kiddos in tow..we arrived in IA on Friday night.

Truth be told, I was not sure how this race was going to go. I am typically not sprint fast and the combination of the car and racing on Wed was not really ideal to have a great race on Sunday...but off I went at 4:30 am.

The cool thing about this swim is it is in a quarry. So you had a little ledge as you got in but then it was deep, deep water. We were treading for the start and there were three age groups with out wave. The gun went off...and off we went. Since the swim is a strength...I knew I should beat most of this wave out of the water. I caught the wave in front of me and then spent the remainder of the swim weaving around people.

The swim was 10:40 and then I was off on the bike. My transition was pretty good and my goal was to have no one in my age group pass me.

The bike was hilly, not nearly like Mooseman but it was the large rolling hills. I played cat and mouse with this guy and soon we reached the turn around on the bike. Two women passed me, one was older and the other was younger,,,I ended up passing one of them on the way back and the bike seemed to be over quick..Final time on the bike was 38:08 - 19.7 mph which is the best I have done on this new bike.

Off to the run...so the guy who I went back and forth with on the bike comes hauling out of transition on the run. He slows down next to me and tells me that I am first in my age group and I need to hold on. Then he takes off.....like I might catch him ha. The run is out and back and the first half is ALL UPHILL...really I come to the midwest give the girl a little flat. Anyways I do catch him on the uphill and then I am just trying to hold one.

The finish goes around the quarry, so you see the finish about a mile from when you are actually done. He ends up catching me about .3 mile from the finish and we end up finishing together...Thanks Mark..it was fun. The final run time was 25:33.

The best was I did win my age group...so that was SUPER FUN. Elise, one of Ryan's cousins had come to cheer me on, so she got this pic. My overall time was 1:16.27. It was a good day!